Simon Santoso crushes Sameer Verma in Men’s Singles first round at Badminton Asia Championships
Indonesia’s top shuttler Simon Santoso proved his elite craft when he crushed India’s Sameer Verma in Men’s Singles first round at Badminton Asia Championships 2012 at Qingdao, China, on Tuesday, April 17.
Santoso, who is World Number 9 and fourth seed in Men’s Singles draw of Asia Championships, worked well in his opening fight in the event and remained successful in beating Sameer without losing any game.
The higher ranked Indonesian worked hard in the first set but sailed smoothly in the second game and won the battle in straight sets while consuming 45 minutes in the court.
On the other hand, India’s young shuttler Sameer showed his elevated performance in the opening set and remained close. However, he failed to continue his impressive run in the second game and lost the battle with a decent margin.
In the first set, Santoso did not face any considerable resistance from his lower ranked Indian opponent and remained positive in the opening half.
Santoso was moving ahead of Sameer and managed to establish an impressive 10-3 lead on the board.
However, Sameer showed his brilliance at this stage and he score seven consecutive points and levelled the score at 10-10. Until the one-minute break, both men were quite close.
After the interval, the Indian continued playing positive badminton against his higher ranked opponent and took a reasonable lead of 16-12.
Nevertheless, Santoso changed his tactics and played with precision and remained successful in ending the lead of his opponent by reaching at 17-17.
At this stage, the Indonesian was composed as he did not commit any mistake and bagged the set with a 21-19 score on the board.
In the second game, it was Sameer who took an early lead by reaching at 6-2 but again failed to maintain it as his higher ranked rival levelled the score at 6-6. Santoso remained on track and set up a small lead of 11-9.
After the break, the Indonesian did not lose his focus in the game and eventually took the set with a tremendous 21-14 margin on the board.
Santoso won his opening-round battle in straight games with a decent score of 21-19 and 21-14.
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